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  Xanthosoma?
From: ju-bo at msn.com (Julius Boos) on 2007.10.16 at 10:17:24(16514)
From: bogus@does.not.exist.com ()
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:36:43 -0000
Subject: No subject
Message-ID:

Attachment : DSCN1707.jpg (0.09 MB), DSCN1701.jpg (0.09 MB)
Dear all,

Dear Anton,

I am not familiar w/ Cibodas Bot. Garden, where is it located?
I THINK this may be X. sagittifolium, as Dr. Eduardo Goncalves had a long
letter on this a couple years ago, when he I.D. the commonly grown and
gone-wild species here in Florida, previously considered to be X.
sagittifolium, as X. robustum (with bullate leaf-blades, a HUGE plant when
left to go wild).
The one in your photos is imported in great quantities as a food in S.
Florida, most is grown in Cen America. The edible rhizomes (actually the
cataphylls/scales covering the growing tip) are 'darker' in color than the
rhizomes of X. robustum, and the rhizomes could be confused with those also
sold in Florida of X. violacium, but when you remove a scale of a rhizome of
X. violacium from near a rhizome`s tip, you will see a lilac or violet color
which is lacking in X. sagittifolium.
What I believe to be the same plant as in your photo (X. sagittifolium) for
some reason (you can buy the rhizomes in any grocerty here in S. Florida
CHEAP by the pound!) was put into tissue culture a few years ago, and plants
of this species, growing in 3 gal. pots, cover a LARGE area in the
greenhouses at Boynton Botanicals in Boynton Beach, S. Florida. At first
they made a very compact plant, quite attractive while confined to a 1 gal.
pot, but soon outgrew these small pots, the edible off-shoots which are the
edible rhizomes growing off the central rhizome, were bursting the pots, and
stand now in 3 gal. pots, NOT a very horticulturally attractive plant!
The only other Xanthosoma it might be would be X. atrovirens which to the
best of my knowledge does not produce off-shoot rhizomes, the main or
central rhizome is harvested and cooked/eaten, but to determine this you`d
have to dig up and cut a rhizome to see the yellow/orange color of the
rhizomes core/center.
I hope this helps!

Julius

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From: piabinha at yahoo.com (piaba) on 2007.10.17 at 18:56:27(16523)
> I am not familiar w/ Cibodas Bot. Garden, where is
> it located?

cibodas is in the highlands of java, east of bogor

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